Chapter 12 – A Truth Only the Moon Knows8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNN57qWSfIM
The silence between Janina and Ethan was a strange kind of thunder. It didn’t scream—but it roared beneath every look, every breath, every accidental brush of skin in the hallway.
She had avoided him for days. Meals were taken in separate spaces. Conversations with Gregory were laced with false cheer, her laughter brittle. Cathy visited more often now, her presence a buffer and a reminder.
A reminder of what Janina should not want.
But that night, the moon was full. And Janina couldn’t sleep.
She found herself outside, barefoot on the dewy grass, wrapped in one of Gregory’s old coats. The garden was quiet, except for the whispering wind.
“Can’t sleep either?” Ethan’s voice emerged from the shadows.
She turned slowly. He was by the bench near the fountain, cigarette between his fingers, smoke curling into the cold.
“That’s bad for you,” she said, voice barely above a whisper.
He shrugged. “So is wanting the wrong person.”
Janina walked to him slowly. “Ethan…”
“I dream about you,” he interrupted.
Her heart thudded. “You shouldn’t.”
“I didn’t ask for it. I just do.” He looked at her, raw and defiant. “You walk in, crying. You take off your wedding ring. You ask me if it’s okay to be selfish for once.”
She closed her eyes, shaking. “Don’t say that.”
“I wake up angry,” he whispered. “Angry because it wasn’t real. Angry because I know I’d say yes.”
Janina sat beside him on the bench. Not close. But not far enough.
“Do you think I’m happy?” she asked. “That I married your father for love?”
“You didn’t marry him for love,” he said, not unkindly. “You married him to survive. And that’s not a crime.”
A pause.
“I used to think you were weak,” Ethan continued. “But now... I think you’re just tired of pretending you’re not.”
Janina turned to face him. His face was aglow with moonlight—too young, too sharp, too full of everything she had long buried.
“You make me feel young again,” she confessed. “And that’s the cruelest part.”
“No,” he said softly. “The cruelest part is pretending we’re just two strangers under this moon.”
Her lips parted, but no words came. Only silence. And the truth that filled it.
He reached for her hand—but stopped. Inches away. Letting the air between them choose.
When she didn’t pull away, he rested his fingers lightly on hers. Not a touch. Just a ghost of one.
A promise.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy79J5cUzs5
Or a curse.
And above them, the moon kept their secret.
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